Union member defends train strikes amid criticism it ‘targeted’ Eurovision date

Union bosses have said Eurovision ‘wasn’t a consideration’ when coming up with this weekend’s train strike dates, with walkouts from 16 operators impacting travel.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan claims dates were based on the 14-days notice and shift patterns since the union turned down their latest pay offer.

“We don’t want to hurt anybody, but there is no good day for a strike. If you pick any one day in any given week you’ll hit some event”, he told the BBC.

Both Aslef and the RMT have been accused by transport secretary Mark Harper of targeting the contest.

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